My Kamm clones

Have you heard of the Kamm pants? I don't think I've ever seen them in real life here but if you spend any time looking at fashion on instagram you probably recognise them. #kammpants

The high-waisted, wide-leg cropped sailor pants by designer Jess Kamm have been around for a while and they have quite a following and spawned a host of imitators.

This article from New York Magazine explains them and their cult following pretty well:

"They are made of canvas and come in ten colors, none of which read clownish or showy: cargo olive, a lovely navy blue, the prettiest red. They are faddish but transcend trend, and the moment my taxes are returned I am buying two pairs and never looking back."

And they cost USD$395

I've made a few pairs of jeans, so I knew I could have go at making them, and last year I picked up some lovely, very wide grey/blue non-stretch denim at the Morrison sale for just $5 a metre that was pretty stiff when I bought it but softened up beautifully after washing.

I started saving inspiration pictures on instagram and these are the four I relied on to put mine together.

High-waist, button fly, single-welt front pocket, wide-leg and cropped length.

Initially I was going to modify the Closet case Morgan jeans because they have a button fly but they are not high waisted but then I realised that I had a better pattern.

This very ugly grey pair of trousers look nothing like the Kamms, but they are high waisted and the pattern is the one I used in my TAFE trouser making course, so they were fitted to perfection by my teacher. I made a mistake I made a lot when I first started sewing - choosing bad fabric that doesn't suit me or feel nice to wear - so I don't wear these trousers. But I tried them on, pinned the legs up to cropped length and knew they would be perfect.

Photo taken for Me Made May 2016, which is when I realised how truly ugly these pants are and stopped wearing them. Also no pockets, so they bugged me all day when I did.

The pattern is super ugly on the envelope, but it's a great block.

Does anyone make this pattern unless their sewing teacher gives it to them I wonder?

At this point I cut out the pants adapting the front fly to follow the Morgan jeans. But I still need to figure out the front welt pockets. I know I could have just done slash or patch pocket, but I really wanted that perfect match.

Trouble was, I didn't know how to make welt pockets.

The pieces just sat in a bag, with instructions, for months, while I told myself I was going to get onto Craftsy and figure it out soon.

Then, along came the Itch to Stitch North Point trousers, complete with great instructions on how to make a welt pocket...



By this point, all I had to do was sew and these came together pretty easily over about three sewing sessions.

I spent a fair bit of time refining the fit at the waist and the pattern has a four part shaped waistband which makes adjustments so much easier.

And then I thought - I wonder how my Kamm's compare to my inspo pics?

This was way more fun than just standing awkwardly in front of that door, although clearly I can't work out mirror images at all, every pic is around the wrong way.

Welt pockets FTW!

Clearly I don't quite have the waist measurement of some of the models here, but that's ok, I have my $10 plus a bit of time Kamms.